HERNDON, Va., March 12, 2009 -- The Global Hawk Maritime Demonstration (GHMD) team has been recognized with the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Commander's Award in a ceremony at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The award is the result of the team's outstanding achievements during 2008, which include providing support during Hurricane Ike and the California wildfires.

Lt. Cmdr. John Tracey, GHMD project officer, accepted the award on behalf of the team, which is comprised of Northrop Grumman and U.S. Government personnel as well as employees for ASEC, DPA Associates, DynCorp, URS (EG&G Division), L-3 Communications, ManTech, Raytheon, SAIC and Wyle. "This is particularly humbling when you consider all of the other great teams out there," he said. "To the rest of the Global Hawk team, congratulations on taking on the challenges of bringing a whole new system to the Navy's arsenal."

The award further recognized team GHMD's technical and business excellence and leadership team as well as their efforts for "paving the way for the introduction of the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance system to the fleet, ensuring that the warfighter will be provided with a highly effective Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance support system."

"Anytime our team is recognized with an award or simply a pat on the back, we know we're doing what Northrop Grumman does best, and that's supporting our customer, the warfighter, 100 percent," said Terry Barefoot, Northrop Grumman GHMD program manager. "We are honored to be members of this team, but we're even more honored to say our team stands shoulder to shoulder with the brave men and women serving around the globe securing freedom."

Global Hawk is part of Northrop Grumman's "unmatched unmanned" systems product line that includes the MQ-5B Hunter, the Euro Hawk, the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance program, the MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Unmanned Air System aerial targets and the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide.